Ten men dressed in black suits huddle around a single computer. Their eyes focus intently on the screen as an alert pops up every few seconds. The computer beeps a final time before one man shouts in an authroitative voice, "We've got him, let's move." This situation recently became a reality for one high school student. After posting bomb threats on Myspace and sending them via email, the FBI tracked him to his location and arrested him.
What is the price of safety? Privacy. You must choose one. With the recent NSA spying controversey and now this article, the issue has been brought to the forefront. The article explains how the FBI planted spyware on a suspect's computer in order to reveal his identity and monitor his internet traffic. Clearly this violates the man's privacy, but then again the question is posed: Is it worth it? Should we, as a people, decide to forfeit some level of privacy in order to ensure safety? Or should we demand that all the spying and telephone-tapping halt immediately and take the issue of safety in to our own hands?
I'm not going to answer this question. I wanted to put it out there as food for thought and I'd very much appreciate if you leave comments on this post with your opinions on the matter. Consider this post a work in progress, additions will be made as I receive comments from you, the readers. I intend to add the well-written and thought out comments to the post itself.
Thanks again.
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